A police officer who left a woman fearing for her life as he tried to rape her will not have his jail term increased after Court of Appeal judges concluded it was “not unduly lenient”.
Ernesto Ceraldi, 44, who has since resigned from Greater Manchester Police, was jailed for five years and four months at Preston Crown Court in June after earlier pleading guilty to attempted rape and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The court heard his victim was throttled, punched and had her hair pulled.
His jail term was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) under the unduly lenient sentence scheme.
As a police officer I should have been able to trust him without a shadow of a doubt. If I cannot trust a police officer with 21 years of service, who can I trust?— Female victim
Lawyers representing the AGO argued at a hearing on Thursday that Ceraldi should have received an extended sentence for public protection and the term was not long enough for his offending.
But, refusing to increase the sentence, Lord Justice Bean said the Crown Court judge was entitled to reach the conclusion not to impose an extended sentence, and also to reflect Ceraldi’s early guilty pleas in the overall term.
The court heard Ceraldi, of Darwen, Lancashire, was a police dog handler when he met his victim in a pub on April 1.
He told her he was a police officer and showed her photos of his dog, before she invited him to her home in Rossendale, Lancashire.
The pair drank wine and engaged in consensual sexual activity before sitting on the sofa and talking together.
The defendant’s attitude “changed all of a sudden” and he began to demand she perform a sexual act on him and grabbed her hair.
He pushed her against a wall, causing a picture to fall and smash, and put his hand around her throat, the court heard.
Lord Justice Bean said the victim described the pressure on her throat as “horrific” and she said she nearly stopped breathing.
He said Ceraldi repeatedly punched her and there was a struggle before she ran to the back door and escaped, being pursued by the naked defendant.
The victim was “absolutely terrified and thought he was going to kill her”, the judge said.
Ceraldi pinned her against a wall outside, where a neighbour heard her screaming and helped the victim into her house, where they phoned police, the court heard.
Ceraldi was found by police sleeping naked on the sofa of his victim’s house, with his leg through the arm of a jacket.
Following the attack, blood spatters were found on walls of the house and hair extensions – which he had pulled from her head – were found on the floor, the court heard.
In a victim impact statement, the woman said: “As a police officer I should have been able to trust him without a shadow of a doubt. If I cannot trust a police officer with 21 years of service, who can I trust?”
She also said she is now unable to leave her home at night and has nightmares about the attack and how “there could have been a totally different outcome” if she had not been able to fight Ceraldi off.
Lord Justice Bean told the court a report from a prison officer indicated Ceraldi is “genuinely horrified” by his behaviour, and that Ceraldi said he “didn’t want any sympathy”, adding: “I have spent many years helping victims and now I have created one.”
